Booker shooting with injured hand
Suns star’s return for season opener plausible
He’s no longer wearing the splint on his right shooting hand.
Just a small wrap around his two outside fingers.
Devin Booker had it on during Monday night’s preseason game against the Sacramento Kings as he sat on the bench holding a tennis ball.
Oh yeah, one more thing.
He’s back shooting with hand.
After Phoenix practiced Tuesday morning, the New Zealand Breakers took to the practice court inside Talking Stick Resort Arena ahead of Wednesday’s game.
About five minutes into practice, Booker came in wearing a white Suns jersey.
He gripped a basketball with his right hand, then proceeded to swish free throw after free throw while shooting with his right hand.
After that, Booker pulled up for a corner 3-pointer and nailed it.
Suns coach Igor Kokoskov said Booker was there for the first 20 minutes of practice, which was non-contact. He didn’t participate in contact portion because he hasn’t been cleared for contact.
“He went upstairs to do conditioning,” Kokoskov said.
Booker later returned after practice concluded, chatted it up with the Breakers – and shot free throws and 3s with his right hand. his right
Booker had surgery Sept. 10 to repair the fifth metacarpophalangeal joint a week after his hand swelled while playing basketball in Phoenix. The defending NBA 3-point shooting contest champion has been working diligently with his left hand to the point he looks just as natural shooting left as he does with his right.
“He’s different,” said Kings forward Willie Cauley-Stein, Booker’s college teammate, before Monday’s game. “He’s a sharpshooter. He can shoot left, right. Between the legs. With his eyes closed. He got the knack for that ball to go through the hoop.”
Rookie Wenyen Gabriel, one of four former Kentucky players on Sacramento’s roster, wasn’t shocked either, but doesn’t envision him pulling up from 3 with his left hand during a game.
“Surprised? No, but I didn’t expect him to do it,” Gabriel said. “That’s different right there. Shooting with your left hand. If he does it in a game, I’d definitely take my hat off to him. If he makes it, that’d be some ambidextrous Kobe Bryant-type stuff.”
Cauley-Stein said he doesn’t expect Booker to launch from 3 left-handed, either, but everything else is fair game.
“He’s going to be able to finish with his left,” Cauley-Stein said. “He’s not going to shoot jumpers with his left, but that thought of it being comfortable for everything from him driving left, driving
WEDNESDAY’S GAME
New Zealand Breakers at Suns
7 p.m. Talking Stick Resort Arena. FSAZ. right. He’s going to have both hands and it’s going to be dangerous.”
On Tuesday, Booker, a little over three weeks following surgery, showed his right hand is getting back to normal.
After the Suns shot a dismal 3-of-22 from distance in Monday’s 106-102 loss to the Kings, Booker hitting 3s in practice has to be a welcome sight.
He was scheduled to be out six weeks. After seeing him shoot Tuesday, maybe a return for the Oct. 17 regularseason opener against the Dallas Mavericks at home isn’t so far-fetched after all.